How I Pressure Can Meat: October 2011 Thread of the Month Contest Winner

[mollypup]

Molly, I'd be really interested in hearing your review of the Chicken Thighs. Just for comparison purposes. Did you can yours the same way I did mine? If you did something different, and like your results, would you share?

I can them basically the same way you do. I will buy a large package or two of chicken thighs (usually still with the bone) since those are the cheapest cuts of chicken. I fill up one side of the kitchen sink with hot water and dump all the thighs into it. Then I pull off the chicken skin and discard it. I also try to pull off any large hunks of fat that are attached to the meat. I usually use regular-mouthed sized jars since the chicken thighs can easily slip through them. I uses mostly pint-size because I plan to mix the meat with rice or noodles, or make soups out of it.

I hate to say that I'm not nearly as sterile as you are when I can. I will wash the jars, lids and bands off in hot soapy water and after rinsing I'll let them soak in warm water but I don't heat the water up on the stove. I grab a wet, clean jar then drop a few chicken thighs into it until they are up to where the shoulder of the jar becomes the neck where the bands screw onto. I will add 1/2 tsp. salt (just regular table salt), fill the jar with water from the faucet, squeeze the air bubbles out with a spatula then wipe any salt and water off the top of the jar. I grab a lid out of the water and wipe it off real good with a clean towel and place it on top of the jar. Then I grab a band and wipe it off real good too then screw it on the jar but not too tightly. I set it all in the pressure canner, get it up to pressure and wait until it's time to take them out. I tend to get the pressure a few lbs. higher than required, and I let them stay in the canner about 15 - 20 minutes longer. It doesn't seem to hurt anything and I figure the longer and hotter the more likely all the germs and bacteria are killed. I LOVE hearing the *pops!* of each lid as it seals itself to the jar. I've had a few failures where the lids wouldn't pop but I put those jars into the fridge and we eat those for dinner during the week.

I've got probably 100 jars of various meats and they always taste good and are very tender when I open a jar. HOWEVER (lol!) I haven't yet tried a jar of chicken thighs but I will tonight and report back how their texture and flavor is. I've got some chicken I canned well over a year ago and the jars are still tightly sealed. I store them all in the basement where it's very dark and cool so hopefully they'll last a long time.

Justaprepper - your canning is truly awesome! The pics you posted are perfect! You should make some You-tube videos about canning!

[ladyhk13]

Ok Justa...you did it! We went to Sam's today and bought A LOT of chicken breast, pork loin, and a huge some sort of beef (I was looking at the roasts and the guy came over and I asked him which one would be more tender when canned and he brought up buying this whole slab of something because it was cheaper instead of buying it already cut up...that is good, so I bought it and didn't even look at what kind it was...oops). So I guess over the next few days I'm going to be canning my butt off and it's ALL YOUR FAULT!!! LOL! This will be interesting.

[mollypup]

JustaPrepper - I opened up a jar of chicken thighs that I canned several months ago and mixed the meat with some boiled noodles. I sampled it prior to mixing it with the noodles and found the meat to be really good! It wasn't overly tender and tasted quite good. I could have stuffed all of it in my pie hole just then lol! I don't know why yours comes out too tender. Maybe what I consider tender and what you consider tender are different. Maybe you like your meats a little less tender than I like mine. Maybe the thighs are the same and it's just personal taste. Who knows!

maybe...maybe.....maybe.....baby!

[izzyscout21]

Why is it that every time any of the ladies make a post, I end up hungry?

[bacpacker]

+1

[ladyhk13]

HaHaHa

[Sniper-T]

Is it possible to waterbath can meat? or does it have to be pressure canned?

If not... why not?

If the meat and broth were brought up to safe temperature (cooked) prior to canning, would that not eliminate the danger of spoilage?

[helomech]

Meat must be pressure canned. You can't get the temp high enough without the pressure to kill everything.

[mollypup]

Meat must be pressure canned. You can't get the temp high enough without the pressure to kill everything.

Exactly. And you would see the results of canning meat in a water bath a few days later. The bacteria will grow inside the jar and excrete wastes and toxins which will turn the meat a nasty color and the seal will be broken. If it stays in the jar too long it may start leaking out and really smelling up the place. Actually, a pressure canner is very, very easy to use. If you are thinking about the pressure canners our mothers and grandmothers used then you need an update!
Modern pressure canners are a LOT safer and super easy to use. I never canned until last year and I could have kicked myself for not starting sooner after I found out how easy it is to do. And I don't like a lot of work intensive kitchen stuff so if it was cumbersome I would drop doing it in a sec.

[Sniper-T]

I'm not worried about actually using one... it is going out to buy one, and then finding cupboard space to put it... not to mention justifying it's existance to my wife - lol

It just seems that if the meat was cooked to an appropriate temperature prior to bath-canning, and the jars were suitably stable, then where is the bacteria going to come from? Not trying to argue... just to understand...


I have been water canning garden stuff for 30 years, but have never tried meat or fish... yet!